Oil-rich Saudi must invest in solar energy: official

Oil-rich and sun-blessed Saudi Arabia has no choice but to invest in solar energy, a senior official of the national electricity provider said on Monday. "Solar energy is a must, not a choice," Hamed al-Saggaf, an executive director with the Saudi Electricity Company, told a conference on sun power. The kingdom is the largest producer in the OPEC oil cartel and is entirely dependent on oil and gas for its electricity production. A 2011 report by Chatham House said Saudi Arabia consumes more than one-quarter of its total oil production.